Brading Roman Villas
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Project Details
Architects - Rainey, Petrie, Johns Ltd.
Fabricator - Hampshire Commercial Aluminium Systems Ltd.
Main Contractor - Stoneham Construction Ltd.
Project Value - £3m.
Systems Used - Comar 2, Comar 5 & Comar 7.
Location - Brading, Isle of Wight.
Protecting Brading Roman Villas was the largest voluntary fund-raising project ever seen on the Isle of Wight. The Heritage Lottery Fund granted £2.1m and the trustees raised another £750,000 from both mainland and island sources.
The site is visible from all directions and creates a dramatic feature to the locality. Planning required that the building was low and had a soft natural appearance. This was achieved through the use of natural cedar and a green roof, which is both environmentally friendly and, in the future, will provide a natural habitat for insects and wildlife.
Glazing in such a project is a concern: the materials used must not impinge on the environment in any way.
Aluminum was a natural choice due to its inherent sustainability and longevity properties. The system specified was Comar Architectural Aluminium Systems. The reason for this was two-fold. Firstly, due to the price sensitivity of this project, Comar 2 the cost effective alternative to curtain walling had the capability with high span mullions to achieve the design concept and Comar's renowned delivery backed up Hampshire Commercial's fast-track installation to ensure that the project ran smoothly and to budget. Building costs for this project increased by £5,000 each month that the start was delayed. Hampshire were involved in the design phase which ensured that issues of integrating the façade were kept to a minimum.
Comar 5 was used to create the windows of various configurations and Comar 7 was used to create the large over-size entrance doors. The aluminium for the project was polyester powder coated in a light grey RAL colour.
